Popular culture is an ambiguous and fluid concept with no absolute definition, so far. Many theorists have studied popular culture and have come to different conclusions, by critically analysing The Frankfurt school of thought alongside the Culturalist school of thought an argument will be made towards which is more useful to the study of popular culture. Using relevant case studies to aid in the argument.
The Frankfurt School (1923) stemmed from classical Marxist ideology. This group of academic neo-Marxists believed that society is “dominated by the capitalist mode of production” (Held, 1980: 41). Their focus was on how the Nazi party seized and controlled their power through the mass media, since “maintaining the status quo […] is very …show more content…
This is the thought process that due to the entertainment provided and the passivity of audiences they will “forget about their class identity and their exploitation (Berger, 1995: 43). This idea is furthered when Adorno suggests there is a relationship between work and leisure activities that causes false class consciousness. He argues that the “real point of free time is to offer us rest and recuperation so that we may be prepared to do more work.” (Esposito, S. 2015) and that what the media audiences consume in their ‘free time’ is monopolized by capitalism and dulls audience senses. Examples can still be found in contemporary society, such as within the gaming community. To play video games users will have to buy either a PS4, Xbox One X or a PC, the latter two being owned by the same company of Microsoft. To partake in the leisure of gaming audience members can only use a limited source of access to …show more content…
2012: 8). A practice continued by Stuart Hall and Paddy Whannel in their study of The Popular Arts (1964). In their theory of popular art, they aim to free certain texts and practices from the critique of mass culture criticisers such as the Frankfurt School. They argue that the discrimination of popular culture is necessary, however, good popular culture must be separated from bad popular culture (Storey, 2001: 52), for instance, Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941) will be considered a good popular art piece that has “risen above its origins” (ibid: 55) and is well recognised as, arguably, the “most impressive directorial debut, the most influential film, the greatest movie — period — in the history of cinema.” (Quandt, 2014). The separation and recognition of these pieces of popular arts help break the generalisations and negativity the Frankfurt school holds for popular culture; this way of thinking accepts the polysemic nature of texts and practices in society and allows for a deeper and more useful analysis of them rather than disregarding everything in an over-generalization of
The Frankfurt School (1923) stemmed from classical Marxist ideology. This group of academic neo-Marxists believed that society is “dominated by the capitalist mode of production” (Held, 1980: 41). Their focus was on how the Nazi party seized and controlled their power through the mass media, since “maintaining the status quo […] is very …show more content…
This is the thought process that due to the entertainment provided and the passivity of audiences they will “forget about their class identity and their exploitation (Berger, 1995: 43). This idea is furthered when Adorno suggests there is a relationship between work and leisure activities that causes false class consciousness. He argues that the “real point of free time is to offer us rest and recuperation so that we may be prepared to do more work.” (Esposito, S. 2015) and that what the media audiences consume in their ‘free time’ is monopolized by capitalism and dulls audience senses. Examples can still be found in contemporary society, such as within the gaming community. To play video games users will have to buy either a PS4, Xbox One X or a PC, the latter two being owned by the same company of Microsoft. To partake in the leisure of gaming audience members can only use a limited source of access to …show more content…
2012: 8). A practice continued by Stuart Hall and Paddy Whannel in their study of The Popular Arts (1964). In their theory of popular art, they aim to free certain texts and practices from the critique of mass culture criticisers such as the Frankfurt School. They argue that the discrimination of popular culture is necessary, however, good popular culture must be separated from bad popular culture (Storey, 2001: 52), for instance, Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941) will be considered a good popular art piece that has “risen above its origins” (ibid: 55) and is well recognised as, arguably, the “most impressive directorial debut, the most influential film, the greatest movie — period — in the history of cinema.” (Quandt, 2014). The separation and recognition of these pieces of popular arts help break the generalisations and negativity the Frankfurt school holds for popular culture; this way of thinking accepts the polysemic nature of texts and practices in society and allows for a deeper and more useful analysis of them rather than disregarding everything in an over-generalization of